Masa Paper Tutorial

Several members of the Lascaux Society met at my home a few weeks ago for a workshop on the use of Masa paper. Our teachers are artists who use this inexpensive paper in collages and as paintings alone. Each 21.5" x 31" sheet costs less than a dollar. One side is smooth the reverse has a little bit of "tooth".

Step 1. Crumple paper then smooth it out on a flat surface.
Step 2. Spray with water to moisten surface.
Step 3. Paint loosely with diluted watercolor or acrylic paint.
Step 4. Blot, wrinkle again, fold again...flatten again.
Step 5. Repeat painting and wrinkling until you have the desired effect.
Paper dries in about 20 minutes, either start over, add ink, use as desired. You may also use a mask to protect some unpainted areas. This is fun and freeing.

I used some of the paper to fill in areas on the bird. I tore it and applied it with acrylic medium.

I Miss Those Shrunken Heads

The title caught my eye,"Where Shrunken Heads Are a Big Attraction." Page D6 of the this morning's Wall Street Journal brought back memories of my childhood.

What kind of childhood did you have? Actually it was a great one, a sister who was a built-in playmate, two loving parents, a big brother, dogs, cats, horses, cows, and friends.

Several years ago I was commenting to my children that one of their toys, a squishy, disgusting heart/brain/liver like thing was beyond the pale as far as grossness went. They reminded me of my penchant for shrunken heads.

Said heads were black rubber with streaming nasty black hair all hanging from elastic cords so they could bounce and flail (like the real thing, right?). We were ecstatic when we played with them, putting them in each others faces, chasing each other with them, just plain being kids with them.

I suppose like many toys they were eventually put in a drawer or box and disposed of with the troll dolls and my sister's Little Kiddles.

And by the way if you want to see the real thing "head", haha, to the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford.

Face Lift

Okay, if a title like that gets your attention there is too much guilty pleasure television in your life.

Today I did a face lift on the blog, a new banner, a new template from the good folks at blogspot and some new colors. A little lift for a distraction from summer.

If you are a regular reader you know my distaste for summer in Florida, it is here. Almost 100 degrees today. The vegetable garden has already met its demise, the weeds are proliferating and it is too hot to pull them out by their little feet.

I have posted two paintings which are works in progress. They have been looking at me for several weeks. The great inspiration of the moment passed so I have been dragging myself to them to put more paint on the canvas. A tribute to the arts. There is a lady violinist also, she will appear at a later time.

Some fun

Pictured here is a little something I made for a birthday gift. This bracelet is on an endless series of connected loops of silver. Anybody who makes jewelry will not be impressed. I imagine this has been around for a long time, but I was wowed by the perfect design of concentric connected circles. Each end I finished with small spirals made with pliers. This was fun. What a great concept...fun.

Back to etsy

I just decided to reopen my etsy shop.

Check it out for some beach ladies and gentlemen. All are matted and sealed for easy shipping which is free within the United States. I will be posting more each day so stay tuned. These are original paintings, not prints.

Click here
http://www.etsy.com/shop/niftyartgirl

Hannah Strikes a balance in Davis, CA

I recently met Hannah Klaus Hunter through Alyson Stanfield's Blast Off on-line class. Hannah is an art therapist who works with children and families at the University of California in Davis Children's Hospital.

Her stories are of bravery, heartache and incredible strength and character. Hannah has become my touchstone in this sea upon which I am sailing.

Balance, harmony, unity with variety are all principles of art Hannah expresses in her work. Looking at these pieces to the left your eye moves in a rhythm to see everything.

This doesn't happen by accident. It is a skill that artists develop. You should see it all and watch it unfold.

Richness of color is focused with the use of carefully chosen shapes and textures. Individually these elements are important, together they are powerful. Strong lines and forms hold it in place.

The heartfelt choices are reflections of Hannah's patients and their stories. The feelings unfold in the details. They are lovely and make you want to touch and hug them. How one is affected when they view these pieces says a lot about the balance Hannah offers her friends, family and patients.

To see more of her work visit the USE Credit Union in Davis, CA this Friday for her opening from 5:30-7:30. The show will be open from June 7 to June 19.

Hurricane Camille

An update on the hurricane series.

Here is a section of the painting, The Wind was Whistling Under the Door. It is in progress. Acrylic paint and collage, 28" x 22"

When Hurricane Camille was blowing through Mississippi, east of our home in New Orleans, I remember hearing the wind whistling through the weather strip under the front door.

It was August 19, 1969. The winds reached over 200 m.p.h. The fierceness of the storm was trying to reach from under that blue door. This house would later stand 5 feet under water after Katrina.

My friend Mary

A week ago my art group, The Lascaux Society, met. We had an assignment to do a portrait of a friend. There were no restrictions as far as size or medium. Agonizing over who to paint I turned to my friend, Mary who was in the same boat. We decided on each other. Some of you may understand how difficult it is to work when there are no deadlines and no restrictions. This assignment gave me a purpose and a focus. It was so much fun. Fun is not a big enough word to describe the portrait of me that Mary has begun. It is wonderful and colorful. Her use of materials is genius. I will photograph it when she has completed her mission.
I hope you enjoy this portrait of Mary, aka MK. I wanted to portray her cheerful disposition and her creativity. She has artistic expression in her dress, her writing, and her art. This is part of what makes her a renaissance woman in my eyes.

Milton

Milton's daylilies are presenting their last blooms today. I have looked at them every morning for the last two weeks. I realized if I didn't take a portrait of them today it would be too late. Thirty years ago, June 28, my husband and I celebrated our honeymoon in New Orleans. As I showed him the city we drove around the lakefront to see one of my childhood homes. Across the street, our neighbors were tending their garden. This was a massive undertaking unto itself. They had also added the grass filled circle at the end of the cul de sac and filled it with daylilies. Milton would go to the new beds and hand pollinate the flowers. Mixing and painting the pollens to achieve an incredible combination of colors.
Years later we moved to Colleyville, Texas, a half hour from Dallas where Milton's daughter and my childhood best friend lived. She arrived one afternoon with a box of daylilies. Her parents had driven up from New Orleans for a visit. Knowing she shared their love of gardening they were bringing her treasure. She was kind enough to share them with us. They grew in front of our house in the baking sun. The colors were amazing.
When we moved from Texas to Florida eleven years ago we had to bring along some of Milton's daylilies. They were our friends.
Every year as a little girl I watched my best friend drive off to visit her grandmother in Florida. They would pack up their station wagon, fill it with girls and aunts and cousins and drive off for weeks at a time. I was always so envious of their adventures and envious of the huge family community. Finally living in Florida I asked where did she go? Must have been Fort Lauderdale or Sanibel or another exotic sounding beach. No, it was Sanford. Sanford. Twenty minutes away. I had a studio in Sanford.
A gardener's soul is filled with patience and optimism. You must wait to see the results from what you plant and you wouldn't plant if you didn't have hope. What man can do when he patiently plays with God's creation. Those are Milton's daylilies.

Blackberries, Folsom, and sisters

The garden is growing and producing. The first tomatoes, the midlife in blackberry brambles, and the beginning of Gardenias. All of these blessings remind me of childhood weekends on the ranch in Folsom, LA. We picked baskets of blackberries in muddy bottoms sharing borders with fences or rivers populated with water moccassins. The tomatoes ripened like a choir singing "Onward Christian Soldiers", all together with red cheeks and much Protestant fervor. Delicious in their statement of victory over our appetites. The gardenias simmering in the heat, letting passers-by know they were there as their fragrance filled the air. In my walks I can smell them as I travel by, their perfume reaching my nose before their glare touches my eyes. There are several scents to be had in gardenia bouquets. One of the plants we have shares its nose with that of a Camino Ranch gardenia from years past. It is unmistakeable in its spiciness. My sister and I can weep at the scent, the memories of horseback rides, herds of cats and dogs that found their way to the ranch house door and became part of the family. The hunts for strawberries and the infamous jeep rides. And little girls in the big bedrooms talking till they fell asleep exhausted. Still holding hands after a day of fresh air, fresh food, and sunshine. Best friends and sisters.

Meeting Spring with St Anthony and St Paul

Several weeks ago I had a collage afternoon with some willing friends. Our theme was spring. It is interesting what spring means. To some it is a personal awakening, a new way of looking at things and going forward with images of fresh flowers and members of the animal kingdom. Others look at spring as nature starting anew with colors and flight of birds. Flipping through found images I pulled anything that made an impact on me at a glance. These hugging figures, by Sienese Sassetta (1423-50)are cut from the Quiet Eye. This book was first published in 1954 by Sylvia Judson. In her words,"to communicate a sense of affirmation, of wonder, of trust. This is a spirit alien to much of the art of our insecure time, but one which I am confident will some day return." This quote is taken directly from the front flap of the copy I purchased at a YMCA book swap. The words of this Quaker sculptress are even more accurate now. Looking at photos of artwork chosen for recent international exhibitions I think how true Sylvia's words still are. I think we are so far from sharing the positive and so near cynicism it is a sad commentary on the direction we have grown.
My chosen images are a personal depiction of what spring means to me. The loss of my dear father at Easter, the comfort from my loved ones, and my faith. In the corner the bright hope of one of God's most imaginative creatures, the Goldfinch. He is too bright, too funny, and too perfect for man to have designed. The copy is from an Easter card from my mother. It expresses so much.

the view from here and there

Posting from a hotel room in beautiful Golden, Colorado. The spring blooming trees, lilacs, tulips, wildflowers, and the soft western grass have welcomed us to this beautiful and majestic part of the country. On our first evening we celebrated Mother's Day in Evergreen at a restaurant overlooking a lake. A fox walked by the window, a little boy with a net fished the shallows with his mom, and the Canada Geese swam and flew in the dusk. The inspiration is everywhere to fresh eyes. The heat and humidity of Florida create a different atmosphere. There the air is tinted with warm hues until the white hot heat of the summer bleaches the sky of color. The moisture in the vegetation mists in green hues with hot yellow and orange flowers accenting the dark of the growth. Man plants pinks and blues to cool the view.
...and so it is, a contrast in temperature to feel and to see.

Bright colors and a lonely kitty.

Last weekend on May Day I spent several hours at Artistree Co-op. Two beautiful tents shaded me with several other designers as we monitored the Mother's Day sale. I painted for those hours beginning a project of 9 panels that will be hung together to form a mosaic of canvases. The bright colors are layered on a base of purple giving them depth. The birds are making a comeback on these canvases as they perch on branches interspersed with flowers.
I have been away from the computer for several weeks while our lovely daughter visited then while on a trip to see family in Texas. In all of the activity we lost our little Scratch. She had had a good long life approaching twenty years with our family. She moved in with us in San Antonio New Year's Day after our son was born. She moved to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area then retired to Florida where she could enjoy time by the pool, chasing furry things in the woods, and curling up on the laps of family and friends. One of my last posts included a photo of her in her swimwear cover-up. Her portrait is also on this blog. She was a good girl. We are contemplating an addition to our feline family to keep Harold company. Any advice on adding another cat to a family that already has a seven year old hairy male monster in residence would be helpful.

A new friend from my tap dance class has asked if I would donate a piece to the silent auction for the Down's Syndrome Association. I chose this portrait of Blanche and Mani at the beach. There is a discrepancy in their fish catching talents, but they are nonetheless comfortable with each other and pleased with the day.
This is acrylic on black paper. Mounted on paper covered wood, measuring 12"x 11", covered in plexiglass with nickel covered nailheads.
Copyright 2010 by Beth Crews Rommel.

Sunday afternoon I invited three friends with creative leanings to come over for collage time. My dear friends did not know each other, but soon the studio was bubbling with artistic juices. There would be quiet moments where we were each in our own worlds trying to figure out what spring meant to us. Beautiful papers and intriguing materials came in and joined in the mix. We stated this was a no apology zone. Most artists have moments of self criticism and feel the need to say they are sorry to any viewer. This made our afternoon more joyful and liberating, can't say you are sorry.
What I remember more than anything was the huge smile of each participant as they looked at their finished pieces. They were truly beautiful and filled with heartfelt ingredients whether tangible or emotional. Thank you Laural, Nanci and MK for a great afternoon.

Winging away is the wingback

The Chair 4 Charity for the Mustard Seed auction is complete. I have cut out more little birds than I ever thought imaginable. I must say until I added the bird lady on the seat I wasn't satisfied with the direction my zippy chair was headed. I am so driven by color and balancing the weight of color in a composition that my eye wasn't happy. The bright lady and her avian friends help the chairs with their Florida hued gams stand straighter and together as a picture worth taking. The pillow has taken its structured shape with an actual chair cushion filling out its interior with little hand painted ties to keep it in place when a more serious tone is desired. How can turquoise birds on a hot pink pillow be the serious side?
Sealed in polyurethane my friend the chair is ready to go to his next home. We have had a good time challenging each other, it will be a fond farewell.
Ciao chair...the wingback takes flight.

What a pretty furry girl.

I am taking a little break from the chair and thought I would lighten things up a bit. This is Scratch our 19 year old cat in her bathing attire, a brightly colored bathing suit and pink floral cover-up with matching slippers for trips to the pool. To celebrate your pet in a similar fashion you can contact me at beth@niftyartgirl.com. All of those years of drawing fashion designs in school can be put to work for your pet's glamour do moment.

all artwork copyrighted by Beth Rommel 2010

Step 4 in the chair for charity

Step 4 in the chair transformation is what I have pictured to the left. The first shot is the beginning of the painting I am doing for a chair cushion. I found the pillow at Ross for $6.99. There were pillows in a variety of shapes and colors. I was drawn to the bright Florida colors in this polyester, shiny fabric. The acrylic paint was absorbed to some degree, but once it was sated the extra color dried on the surface giving an illusion of depth. A few more coats for that. The chair is now sporting lots of birds and some bright paint. I will begin to incorporate my paint style into the chair itself. Acrylic paint and small brushes to the rescue.

"Is it a wingback?" he so glibly asked.

Step 3 in the makeover for my handsome chair for the Chairs 4 Charity Auction. I have spent countless hours in front of HGTV trimming little birds from the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. I am using small scrapbook scissors with a blade that makes the pieces look as if they have been torn. Using Mod Podge I am adhering the birds to the chair in what I like to think are artful arrangements. You can see in the top photo an arm with winged creatures in flight. The other photo is the back of the chair with a series of buntings. I am stretching the confines of the Florida border and adding a few feathered fellows from other states in our great American continent.

Speaking of birds, the highlight of our morning walks has become the farm with the cheerful belled goats and their guinea hens and lone rooster. This is a living illustration of the barnyard friends. They literally run together and I swear, they play together.

Till next time and step 4.

Chair step 2

As the weather has warmed up my dear chair and I have moved inside. An open door invited a buzzing friend to fly in so we are now inside in air condition mode and ready for the next step in my friend's transformation. A bright yellow green or as Craft Smart paint says,"citron" is now gracing my wooden friend's visage. I am busy culling through National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America. This was a bargain purchase at Borders, $5.99 for 552 pages of beautiful color illustrations. My first thought was to use a book of maps I found the same day, but something about birds, especially those of Florida was more intriguing.

Stay tuned to see where those birds are going to land.

A Chair for Charity

Pictured are two photos of a chair I am preparing for the Mustard Seed Chairs 4 Charity event in May. Chairs are being transformed by artists from the community. The finished pieces will be auctioned to fund the Mustard Seed.
I have photographed said chair. I chose it from the warehouse at the Mustard Seed facility in Eatonville. There were lounge chairs, upholstered chairs, royal chairs, kitchen chairs, this is a strong chair. It is sturdy, functional, practical, and has character, and impeccable values. It started as a new wooden chair. Then it became a nice, sanded, smoothed, primed, white chair.
You can watch it through the next few weeks, step by step as it takes on a new life and becomes a chair of a different character.

I have deep friends for sale.

To paint another beach person follow the steps in the aforementioned post. If you are having trouble coming up with subject matter or how to paint them look in your photo album. Photos from the beach often have other beachgoers in the background, lots of inspiration.
Come see these beach people and a whole collection of pithy fish at Artistree Co-op on Saturday. Prices for these originals start at $20, matted and hermetically sealed. Not even a print, an original painting.
Hope to see you there, I will be there with my two dimensional friends who are really quite deep.

Gentleman at the beach

This gentleman is going to be attending the Artistree Co-op Spring for Handmade sale this Saturday, March 27. Join us from 10-4 to see some new work. I am having so much fun with my new famiy of little old"er" people on the beach.
Start with artagain black paper. Sketch with a pencil. Just in case use a kneaded eraser. This will leave a shiny spot, but can be covered later with paint. Paint in the gentle beach people's skin and clothing, etc. It will be dry in a matter of minutes. You now have a treasure. Enjoy.
Hope to see you Saturday. I will be sharing a tent with clay master Dawn Ferguson who also teaches at Trinity Prep.

Little fish steps

Steps in this fellow's transformation.
1. Paint watercolor paper with a variety of washes of acrylic paint. Whatever is leftover on the palette is a good place to start.
2. Sketch some fun cartoony fish. Don't forget the teeth and the eyes and a few fins. Shape can be as creative as you like.
3. Fill in bodies, leave the eyes and teeth unpainted, with a color of your choosing. I love the blue background and orange fish contrast.
4. When paint is dry, acrylic is pretty quick, 5 minutes on watercolor paper, paint white teeth and whites of eyes.
5. Begin to add patterns, white really stands out. Drawing the fish and putting in detail is what I enjoy. Hint: these little details can hide mistakes. Use a tiny liner brush for control. Add water or acrylic medium to your paint to get the viscosity you can manage.
There you have it. A step by step to the creation of a fun painting for all ages. Coming up soon: I will add one more step when I mount these fellows for display.

It took a family effort.

I am now having fun getting ready for the approaching Spring for Handmade Art sale at Artistree Co-op on March 27. This fishy character is one of several in the process of becoming a niftyartgirl original. I was in a slump as far as creating some new images. My son was home for a few days. Yesterday he spent the afternoon working on a wooden sign for his fraternity in my studio. Having his energy and peaceful nature in the room with me was a catalyst to creating again. The sense of humor my family has shared for generations woke up again.
Look for this new cast of characters and their pithy sayings at this fun outdoor event in College Park. I will post several on etsy in a few weeks also.